Bad day of flying

Anybody who knows me knows that I am really time anal, I am almost always early,  I HATE being late.  Getting to the airport is no exception I have to be there 2 hours early or I am a nervous wreck.  Sunday was no different.  My parents drove me and the boys to the Billings airport at 3:30 in the morning to get there at 4 for a 6am flight.  Lucky us (sarcasm) that was the day that United and Continental merged their computer systems and no one knew what was going on.  For some reason I couldn't use the kiosk to check it but had to wait for assistance.  Mind you, I was one of the first ones in line, it took an hour and a half for them to get my tickets figured out even then they were a bit screwy.  Apparently we were booked on a "ghost" flight from Denver to DC.  Some computer screens showed the flight, other screens it was magically gone.  Hmmmm, handy...

So we were booked on another flight leaving Denver about an hour and a half later but for some reason she was unable to check our luggage all the way to D.C., which meant that I would have to go claim my luggage in Denver then wait in line to check in all over again.  Sweet.  Whatever, I finally had tickets in hand to get to Denver, looking at the clock it was already time for my flight to board and we still had to get through security.  Thankfully my dad had patiently waited by all this time to help keep the boys wrangled and toss my bags around.  As I'm going through security they look at Van's ticket and declare that's it's wrong and must see a supervisor.  It was deemed OK then the TSA apparently thought that I was a security threat as I was picked for the full pat down search and proceeded to take everything out of my carefully packed carry-on.  I mention to the lady that my flight is boarding, she proceeds to to slowly tell me every place on my body that she will be touching.  I tell her fine whatever just please get it over with... wrong comment, she MUST tell me in detail every where she will touch and how she will touch it.  The guy going through my bag has everything pulled out and is now trying to shove it all back together.  UGH!  We FINALLY make it through to get to our gate as half the plane has already boarded, I took a minute anyways to grab a couple of muffins from the cafe for breakfast before boarding.  While trying to board there is yet another problem with Van's ticket to which they have to call a supervisor over.  WTF?!  Is this my sign that I should just turn around and go back to my parent's house?  Finally boarded, literally kick my carry on down the aisle (pretty sure this is the first time someone hasn't offered to help me),   now I have to pee and am painfully aware of being in need of blowing some junk out of my nose.  No tissues on me of course...

In Denver I don't even bother trying to deal with my bags by myself, I immediately offer to pay a guy that works there.  Van is hyper by this time, the entire time I'm in line (again) to get my boarding passes and recheck my luggage he is trying to run away.  He succeeds a few times... quite a few times.  If anythiing we amused the many other people in line...  When we finally make it over to security, Van sees opportunity while I'm trying to unload my stuff in the trays and makes another break for it.  He runs through security... make that past security, I tried to follow but get in trouble as I'm not cleared yet to go past the security guards.  I have to wait and watch while other people chase him down, he made it to the escalators before another mom shot her arm out and grabbed him.  Sigh...  Not sure whether to laugh or cry at this moment.

We run around getting sandwiches/drinks for the flights and then treat ourselves to some frozen yogurt before making it to our gate to wait.  The boys are running around like little maniacs.  A guy comes walking up to me showing me his police identification...WTF now I think.  I have a brief moment of panic before I realize he's showing me his ID so I know he's not a crazy dude but just offering to help me get the boys and all our stuff on the plane during boarding.  YES, I'll take help!  As I'm talking to this guy and running after the boys I start to feel funny.  I'm starting to see zig zag shimmering lights everywhere I look.  This could only mean one thing... MIGRAINE!  Perfect timing...  I dig through my bag in search of any type of pain reliever and only find children's tylenol... I took a handful.  By the time we boarding I was experiencing a full blown aura; weird vision, numbness on one side of my body and face, and now my eyeballs are starting to hurt.   I'm ready to cry.  Thankfully God took pity on my because both boys immediately fell asleep.  Van stayed asleep for most of the flight.  I did some deep breathing exercises and went to sleep as well.

Thank god that's over with!  The little bit of silver lining?  My baggage fees in Billings were waived since I had to recheck them in Denver and from Denver on they were already paid for.  Best part of all?  Finally getting to see Eric after a whole month!!  The boys were super excited to see their dad.

I took a few more baby tylenol and endured an evening at Benihana' (bad idea with a migraine, they are constantly banging around while cooking your food in front of you)

This seriously has got to be my worst flying experiences ever!!  Hopefully the whole United/ continental thing gets better... and hopefully when we fly out on Monday things are just a little bit better.  At least Eric will be with us then...

3 more days left in the good ol US of A.  We are busy trying to think of stuff that we NEED to buy before we go...  like I  need anything else to shove in my bags :)